NEXUS pipeline expected to be completed later this year

Firm says land preparations now underway in Sandusky County

Edmund Miller talks to Joanne Wachholder with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission about his concerns with the proposed NEXUS pipeline that would go through his Luckey Road property, a family farm for 200 years, in Wood County at an August 2016 meeting held in Fremont. The NEXUS pipeline is expected to be operational by this fall.(Photo: File)

FREMONT - The NEXUS pipeline should become operational later this year, as the company completes work on an approximately 255-mile project that carries fracked natural gas through several counties in Ohio and Michigan.

Adam Parker, a spokesman for NEXUS Gas Transmission, said the pipeline's status in Sandusky County generally involves land preparations at this time.

He said that after more than three years of public and regulatory review, NEXUS has obtained all necessary authorizations and permits to begin construction and reached mutual agreements on easement with all affected landowners in Sandusky County.

The pipeline has sparked opposition from hundreds of landowners along the route, including Kathy Schoen, a member of the No NEXUS Pipeline in Michigan & Ohio Facebook group.

But Schoen, whose centennial family-owned 46-acre farm is in the pipeline's path, acknowledged Thursday that the pipeline appears to be a done deal.

"It's just been sad," said Schoen, a resident of Washentaw County in Michigan who is worried about what the extraction and transportation of fracked natural gas will do to worsen climate change.

The NEXUS project consists of approximately 255 miles of new natural gas transmission pipeline.

The pipeline extends over 32 miles in Sandusky County on its winding route through Ohio and Michigan.

Parker said construction activities along the pipeline route started in mid-October 2017.

"Additional pipeline construction activities will begin in Sandusky County in the coming weeks," Parker said in an email.

He said construction will continue along the pipeline route until the project is placed into service late in the third quarter of 2018.

According to Parker, in its first five years of operation, the NEXUS pipeline is estimated to generate a cumulative tax revenue of $412 million, of which approximately $125 million will go directly to local school districts in Ohio and Michigan.

He said economic studies performed by Michigan State University and Economic & Policy Resources showed the construction phase of the project will generate 6,800 jobs, more than $650 million in wages, and $830 million in total economic activity.

Public Finance Resources, Inc., prepared tax revenue estimates in June 2016 for the project.

In Sandusky County, the pipeline will generate estimated tax revenues to the county government of more than $10 million over the first five years of operation.

Fremont City Schools would gain an additional $9.86 million in tax revenue over that five-year period, with Gibsonburg Local Schools receiving more than $5.4 million and Woodmore Local Schools around $5.3 million.

Rice, Riley, Sandusky, Townsend, Washington and Woodville Townships can also expect to reap significant tax revenues from the project, according to the company.

Schoen said she and other Michigan and Ohio landowners objected to other enviornmental and property impacts from the pipeline, including potential decreases in property values.